2136AFC090321 – Opened to Hear, Closed to Fear
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Isaiah 35:4 – 4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.”
Mark 7:34-35 – (↔ Please use this link to see the whole story in context.) 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha*,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
* Ἐφφαθά = Ephphatha and is part of the Baptismal Rite when the Priest says, “Ephphetha: that is, be opened, that you may profess the faith you hear, to the praise and glory of God. While saying this, he touches the ears and lips of the candidate. I found this illustration of the Bible story, and to me it makes this passage clearer. Take a look:
This man was freed from what kept him “locked up” inside himself. He is referred to as “a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him.” Many of us have known hearing-impaired persons who have trained themselves to speak. The speech is understandable but not without distortions. We know, then, that he could communicate his inner thoughts and desires, but could not hear the responses to whatever he had spoken. He released his fear, fired up his faith, asked for and received Jesus’ help, and his life was completely changed. If we try to understand why Jesus used this unusual form of healing, we might not get any better answer than, “It was necessary.” The deaf man was in the presence of the Creator (↔ Click Link), so whatever the Creator did was how the Creator worked. Oh, how we love to say it! “God works in mysterious ways.” Sometimes we say that tongue-in-cheek (↔ Click Link) because we wonder how something good could come out of a real mess. Often the best explanation is “God did it.” That kind of childlike faith is a supreme goal for every Christian, and when we resort to such simplicity, we find ourselves standing much closer to The Light of Truth. Belovéd, if we’re standing in The Light, we need not fear the darkness!
That is what Isaiah is prophesying in the other Key Verse for today.
During Isaiah’s ministry, Israel and Judah were in terrible straits. They were oppressed, repressed, depressed, distressed, and hard-pressed to even stay alive. Neighboring nations waged wars against them, there were revolts and swift counter-attacks. Some of the names involved are familiar to us both historically and biblically: Sargon, Sennacherib, Assyrians and Arameans, Ashdod and Hezekiah, and Babylon and its Arabian allies. Good News was hard to find, because bad news was everywhere you looked. It seemed to Israel and Judah – “The Divided Kingdoms” – that God had abandoned his Chosen People. They certainly got a whopping-big chastisement for their disloyalty, wicked rejection of God’s sovereignty, and their lack of faith and trust in God’s deliverance. True to form, though, God had something better in mind for them – Salvation! In the short-term scheme of things, God was going to overturn the oppressors who devastated the Kingdoms. In the long-term scheme, we know that his Promise of a Redeemer for all earthlings was behind everything he did. Now, can you guess what Israel and Judah had to do to get out of that mess? I’ll give you a hint: It starts with R, ends with T, and means “turn around.”
Now that we understand that, it’s time to look at the driving force behind one of the greatest Prophets that ever lived. I’m going to ask you to go “off-message” for a moment so you can read about the remarkable circumstances behind Isaiah’s call to serve God. It’s one of the most remarkable passages in Scripture. Whenever I read it I think, “God is indeed very and completely AWESOME!” The images invoked by this passage are absolutely magnificent. Please take a few moments right now to at least glance through Isaiah Chapter 6. We will peek in on some of that passage now.
When I read about what Isaiah saw – the Lord God on a Glorious Throne with Seraphim surrounding and praising him (In the Christian theological doctrine of angels, the Seraphim are the highest-ranking celestial beings in the hierarchy of angels), I sense the absolute awe he must have felt. From that magnificent throne room, God called out as in Isaiah 6:8 – 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” (↔ Music Link!) WHAT A RECRUITING CALL!! How thrilling to have such Majesty and Power say “You’re my guy for this job – only if you take it.” It is as magnificent a call as the fiat of Mary or the mantle of Prophecy passed to Elisha (See 2 Kings 2:8-14). The passage also reminds me of the vision of God and his Throne recorded in Daniel 7:9-14 when the Judgment before the Ancient One is described. In all of these visions of God, there is a strong and beautiful message to those who are suffering. We see it in our Key Verse from Isaiah: “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.” That message is for us as well, Belovéd.
We are surrounded by so much violence and evil! It seems that every day we are assaulted by more news of natural disasters and horrific catastrophes so disruptive that entire communities – and many of their inhabitants – are destroyed. There are indeed wars and rumors of wars. There are appalling incidents of terrorism and cruelty, horrifying stories of excessiveness in politics, religion, and human interactions, and the constant fear of yet another incredibly deadly disease sweeping across the planet.
Then we hear it as in Psalm 46:10 – 10 “Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” This idea of “being still” is an important Act of Faith. Take a look at Psalm 37:7 – 7 Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices. In the prophetic poetry of Isaiah’s messages later on in his career, God’s message in Isaiah 30:15 – 15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning [repentance] and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. Alright, by now you get the idea. We need to quiet down and listen for God’s call. What would he want to say to us? How about this?
DO NOT BE AFRAID. He says that nearly 70 times in Scripture. Have no fear, fear not, be not afraid (over 80 times!) And how about this: Mark 4:9 – 9 And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” You know what? I’ll be somewhere listening! (↔ Music Link) Where is that somewhere I’ll be listening? Right here, Belovéd; I’ll be right here. It’s really hard for me to be quiet (someone just said “No kidding!”), but Love makes it possible – whenever I remember Love. All this disease – “If I get the covid I’ll die” – and war – “Authorities in Afghanistan today said …” – and violence – “A large group marching in a peaceful protest over the new laws was attacked by a mob of dissidents who …” – – What’s it all coming to? What do we do? We quietly trust that God will say to us “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.”
I believe that. Do all of us believe that? If not, why not – what’s stopping us? Let us therefore make our ears, our hearts and our minds Opened to Hear, Closed to Fear. (Brendan, this is for you) – Remember FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real (the Devil’s lying again!), and FAITH is Fully Aware I Trust Him. I find good reason to trust whenever I read Jude 1:24-25 – 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
I want to share this Music Link with you again. Please think of it when you’re watching the news on the MSMOs, or reading the paper (or some news blog) or listening to a podcast. As long as there is Love in the World we know God will be telling us “Be Not Afraid.” (↔ Music Link) Beloved, let us quietly listen for God’s call “Whom shall we send?”, and stop being afraid. We stop all the worry, because Why worry when you can pray? (↔ Music Link). Here is the secret to finding that Wisdom:
😀
In fifth grade, our Music Teacher Mrs. Williams would put on a record for us to listen to, and she seemed to say, “Sit down. Be quiet. Listen Carefully. Be in the music.” Isaiah might say something similar: Sit down. Be quiet. Listen Carefully. Be in the Lord.
That’s a wrap for these two key verses, but I have one more thing to add – a wonderful story that goes with the Epistle for this coming Sunday. It’s from James 2:1-5 and it begins like this: My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? Let me share an example by telling you about
The Old churchoy
One Sunday morning, an old cowboy entered a church just before services were to begin. Although the old man and his clothes were spotlessly clean, he wore jeans, a denim shirt, and boots that were very worn and ragged.
In his hand he carried a worn out old hat and an equally well-worn, dog-eared Bible.
The church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen. The people of the congregation were all dressed with expensive clothes and fine jewelry.
As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were all appalled by his appearance and did not attempt to hide it.
As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor. “Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask him what he thinks would be appropriate attire for worship in this church.” The old cowboy assured the preacher that he would.
The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same ragged jeans, shirt, boots, and hat. Once again he was completely shunned and ignored.
The preacher again approached the cowboy and said, “I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church.”
“I did,” replied the old cowboy.
“If you spoke to God, what did he tell you the proper attire should be for worshiping in here?” asked the preacher.
“Well, sir, God told me that He didn’t have a clue what I should wear. He said He’d never been inside this church.”
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
